It Could Be
by KateToast
Summary: At night, James dreams of the life he could have led if Juliet had not died. After "The End".


**A/N: **If only Juliet had gotten to leave the island too...

**XXX**

At night James allows himself to dream of her, to imagine the life he does not lead (but should) every day.

**XXX**

Juliet survives the explosion, does not die in his arms deep in a hole. They leave the island one way or another, back in their own time, before so many of his friends died – _how_ they leave is not the important part. The important part is that he gets her off that goddamn rock. He makes sure to take the ring before they go.

**XXX**

She heals. They decide, after being cooped up for so long in one place, that it is time to travel. Neither of them has seen much outside of the U.S. They go to Miami first, and he meets her sister and nephew. Then they go to Albuquerque and he gets Cassidy to let him see Clementine, introduces his daughter to Juliet, explains that they - he and Juliet - want to be a part of her life.

After promising to visit again soon, they go to Europe. They stay in fancy hotels and eat rich and tasty foods and spend hours in museums. They take trains, subways, small planes, cabs, and boats across countries. Sometimes they just sling heavy backpacks on and trek on foot, the feeling of the earth beneath their shoes familiar after running through the jungle for so long. They send postcards to New Mexico and Florida.

James proposes on a cliff in Greece as the sun is setting, and Juliet cries and says yes amidst the white and blue landscape.

**XXX**

They end up settling down in California, close to friends who feel like family. They have a long engagement as they pick out a small and airy house (_yellow,_ she whispers to him as they drive up, and they buy it later that day), bicker over furniture and paint colors, plan their future at night in bed. Everyone comes to the housewarming party, Claire and Aaron, Kate and Jack, Hurley, Sayid, Sun and Jin, Desmond and Penny, Rachel and Julian, Clementine.

She gets back to doing what she loves, helping pregnant women, and he gets a job in construction, likes working with his hands, building things in the sun. He's had enough with security.

**XXX**

They have a small wedding on the beach, like it would've been if they'd never left the island. They rent a cottage up the coast for their honeymoon and spend hours, whole days in bed, memorizing each other's bodies over and over again. He can never get enough of her. He likes the way their wedding bands glint in the light, and when she catches him looking she teases, _never took you for the sentimental type, Mr. Ford_, and kisses him.

**XXX**

There's a kid, a boy with most of her features and a heck of a lot of his charm. They spoil him a little, thank God every day he does not have to grow up on that island, and only hope for the best for him. James loves doing the father-son stuff with him, stuff he doesn't do with Clementine, playing catch and helping with homework and discussing cars and girls. Juliet is an amazing mother, fun and snappy but stern when she needs to be. They are both immensely proud of their son and his accomplishments.

James wants his son to be everything he himself was not. Juliet wants her son to be just like his father.

**XXX**

When they fight, it is quick, and loud, and heated, and usually one of them leaves the room for a bit. They don't stay apart long, and by the time they crawl into bed and slip in each other's arms everything is forgiven, for that night at least. Sometimes James argues with Juliet for the hell of it, because she's sexy when she's mad.

**XXX**

Eventually their son is grown and Clementine is living her life across the country, and the kids don't need parents as much anymore except for a phone call a week and maybe some extra cash once and a while. James and Juliet always take a trip on their anniversary, sometimes to cold places, sometimes to warm. They do yardwork on weekends, cook dinner and drink wine, spend many nights on the porch reading when they aren't out with friends.

It's quiet without kids at home anymore but James likes it, back to it just being him and Juliet, and now he only has mostly good memories from that damn island, images of her young and confident, fixing vans and chatting with Dharma neighbors and looking amazing in those silly jumpsuits. They still see Kate and Jack, and nobody thinks of who was looking at whom or past romantic entanglements and on those nights James holds Juliet even closer in bed and thanks God she fell in love with his sorry ass.

**XXX**

They grow old gracefully, happily. They are two people still totally in love all these years later, two people who have lived a good, full life together. James moves slower but is still as charming as ever, and though her hair fades gray and her eyesight diminishes Juliet holds onto her calm, her wit, her loyalty. To him she will always be the tough blonde he fell in love with in the 70's.

**XXX**

His mind slows, his body grows weaker. His time to go nears and he is not afraid, he has had the best life he could've ever imagined with Juliet by his side. All he wants in the end is to go before she does, her hand in his.

Before he slips away she brushes back his gray hair and kisses his temple, smiles. "I'll meet you there," she promises in a whisper, and his hopes are fulfilled. Her hand is in his, and he goes before her, like it always should've been.

**XXX**

James wakes up in the morning from these dreams with his alarm blaring and tears on his cheeks. After wiping them away he gets up to begin another lonely day.

**XXX**


End file.
